The Runaway Circus
by TheSilverKey13
Summary: When Lucy runs away from home she gets attacked and passes out from blood loss. But when she wakes up she finds herself surrounded by strange people who call themselves the Runaway Circus. She meets Natsu the fire-breather, Erza the sword thrower, Gray the ice maker ,and many more. Will Lucy be able to keep up with her new and strange family? NaLu, Gale, and other pairings.
1. Chapter 1: The Escape

The Run Away Circus * this is a pilot chapter, please leave your thoughts on the story in the reviews*

Lucy had been running for what seemed like hours but she didn't dare stop. She could hear the dogs' barks closing in on her for the second time. She had tripped once before, giving the dogs a chance to catch up and bit her in the left thigh and upper right arm. She had somehow managed to escape them and had made her way down the mountain forest, far away from the place she used to call home.

She was Lucy Heartfilia heir to the most powerful company in all of Fiore, and she was running away leaving it all behind. She had never asked for the life she had lived, she wanted to be free and travel the world. Although right now she had bigger problems right now, six to be exact and they were catching up with her.

She jumped over fallen logs and swerved around trees, she was almost at the bottom of the mountain _she was almost free!_

Her leg and arm were bleeding and her vision beginning to blur. _Shoot _she thought bitterly _I can't go on for much longer. _Ignoring the screaming pain in her leg she pushed herself harder as the lights became brighter and the sounds were louder. She couldn't have been more than 20 yards away from the tree line, only 20 yards from freedom.

15 yards . . .

10 yards . . .

5 yards . . .

Lucy was only a few feet away from the tree line. Just as she ran into the open field she tripped over a log and tumbled to the ground. Lucy felt the air escape from her lungs and a sharp pain shoot through her ankle. Lucy pushed herself into a kneeling position, wincing at the growing pains in her arm, leg, and ankle. She looked up to find herself in front of what seemed to be a tent the size of your average bedroom. Lucy looked around at the other things around her, there were many small tents like the one in front of her, about three dozen carts and horses, and one massive tent that sat in the center of the field. Lucy gaped in wonder since she had never seen anything besides the walls of her manor so this was a sight to behold!

The sound of cracking branches and heavy boots from behind her brought her back down to earth. The dogs and guards were still after her so this was no time be enjoying the sights. Lucy tried to get onto her feet but found that her leg and ankle were unable to hold her weight as she quickly fell back to the ground. Her vision started to blur even worse, she needed somewhere to hide and fast.

Out of pure luck a gust of wind blew past her a pulled up a loose piece of the tent material from the tent in front of her, revealing a hole big enough for a person to slip into.

"Over there by the tents! She must have gone that way!" she heard one of the guards yell. Lucy pulled herself along the ground towards the smaller tent. It was a tight fit but she managed to squeeze through the opening just in time. She watched as the boots of one of the guards stopped in front of the opening to the tent. Lucy held her breath, afraid to make the slightest noise.

"Did you see where she went?" asked one of the guards.

"She made it into this clearing that's for certain but after that we have no idea" said another.

"Maybe she followed the crowd down to the town after the show was done?" another questioned. There was a murmur of agreement as another spoke up, "Let's not waste our time here, everyone follow the crowd and search for the girl" ordered the leader. Lucy listened to the sound of their retreating footsteps, waiting until she was sure they were gone before peeking out the little flap to be sure. She opened the flap slightly and peered out side.

There was no one in sight.

Lucy leaned back inside the tent and sighed in relief _she had finally done it! She had escaped!_

Suddenly Lucy's vision started to go dark as she passed out inside the strange little tent, unaware of how drastically her life was about to change.

Author's Note

This is just a pilot chapter to see if anyone will even look at this story. The next chapter (if there even is one) will be up by around the end of the week if the feedback I get is good.

Please Review and Follow/Favorite

TheSilverKey13


	2. Chapter 2: Wake Up Call

Lucy's P.O.V

"Ne Wendy do you think she'll be alright?" asked a voice to my left.

"I don't know Happy she lost a lot of blood and those bites were deep, she's lucky to be alive" said a quiet and feminine voice to my right.

I could hear the conversation of the people around me as I started to wake up. _Uggh where am I? _I thought as my mind started swimming, I tried to open my eyes but found that the light in the room was just too strong. I heard a sharp intake of breath from the people around me.

"Wendy she's waking up!" cried the person on my left. I felt a small hand touch my forehead. I turned my head out of the unknown person's grasp but they held my head in place, stopping me from making any movement.

"Please Miss don't move you're still under recovery so please don't move" begged the feminine voice, "we won't harm you so please just stay still".

There was a pause as the girl spoke to the other person on my left, "Go get Natsu-nii and tell him and everyone else that she's awake" she said to the other person. I heard the other person get up and leave, I struggled to open my eyes again. When I did I was met with the sight of a pretty little girl no older than 12 with blue hair. Her light brown eyes sparkled as she smiled down at me.

"I'm Wendy" she greeted me; her cute little smile was becoming infectious.

"Lucy" I replied smiling back at her. I looked around the room, only to find that this wasn't a room but instead was a cart with a closed fabric top (like the ones in the western movies).

I felt us hit something that caused cart we were on to bounce and shake. "Gajeel-san please try to be careful and avoid the bumps please?" Wendy asked who ever this Gajeel person was. All that she got in reply was a rough grunt from the driver. Wendy let out a tired sigh, "I swear he has no brain behind all that iron" she muttered under her breath.

"I heard that" called the deep masculine voice of the driver. Wendy stuck her tongue out at the fabric that covered the front of the cart. She then turned back to me, "So how are you feeling?" she asked.

I laughed a bit but regretted it immediately since it made my head throb. "I think I've seen better days" I answered truthfully raising my hand up to hold my aching head, this time Wendy didn't stop my movements. Wendy laughed slightly, "I should hope so" she says "you almost died from blood loss and exhaustion" I looked at her in shock, _was I really in that bad of shape? _I wondered to myself. Wendy seemed to guess what I was thinking, "you've got two very deep dog bites on your arm and leg, a sprained ankle, and a major case of fatigue" she said lifting up a finger for everything she said.

I lifted myself into a sitting position, ignoring the screaming pain throughout my body as I moved and Wendy's cries for me to lay down. I looked down at myself to assess the total damage on my body. I chuckled to myself, "I look like a mummy" I thought out loud since it wasn't far from the truth. Almost every part of my body was bandaged up accept for my face and part of my head.

"You know it was my brother who saved you right?" Wendy asked me out of the blue, pulling me from my thoughts. I raised an eyebrow at her silently telling her to go on. Wendy took the hint and continued, "Well Natsu-nii, my brother, found you bleeding to death in his tent five minutes after the show" she said. We talked for a few minutes after that, now normally a person would be freaking out after waking up in a strange place next to a strange girl, but Wendy was so nice and cute that I just couldn't help it, besides where else was I supposed to go?

Half way through our conversation the door flap opened up and a blue cat walked in.

A BLUE CAT!

"I told everyone that she was awake" he said to Wendy before turning and facing me, "you're weird" he says.

"SO SAYS THE TALKING BLUE CAT!" I shot back at him giving one of my heated glares.

"WAAAHHH Wendy she's being mean to me!" he cried hiding behind Wendy who just giggled. "Sorry Lucy-san Happy's a little on the strange side what with being a flying, talking blue cat" she explained. My eyes nearly bugged out of my head, "He can fly too?!" I asked in shock. Happy grinned before summoning his wings and taking to the air doing a few tricks before landing in my lap. He looked up at me with his big black eyes, "See?" he said in a smug voice.

"Wow Happy how did you do that?" I asked him. Wendy and Happy gave me a weird look before answering in unison "Magic" they say like it's the simplest thing in the world.

"Umm if you don't mind me asking . . . what's magic?"

Author's Notes

Hey guys sorry for the rushed ending but I wanted to keep it interesting. The next chapter will be up soon and will be WWAAAYYYY better than this one! Got any questions? Feel free to ask!

Thanks to everyone who reviewed and followed!

-TheSilverKey13


	3. Chapter 3: End of the Road

Lucy's P.O.V

To say that Wendy and Happy were shocked was an understatement those two were baffled, how could someone not know what magic was?! Wendy and Happy sat across from me with their eyes as wide as saucers and their mouths were open as wide as they would go. I waved a hand in front of their faces, "Umm earth to Wendy, Hello Happy?" I said with no response from the two of them. We sat there staring at each other for what seemed like hours, doing nothing but sitting in the cart and bouncing along as the cart hit bumps in the-

"HOW DO YOU NOT KNOW ABOUT MAGIC?!" they practically screamed in my ear causing my head to ring.

"Owwww! My body may be injured but my hearing was working just fine a second ago!" I shot back. "Sorry Lucy-san but it's just shocking to hear that someone doesn't know what magic is" Wendy explained. "Ya Lushy magic is everywhere in the world! Not know what it is is like not knowing what a circus is" Happy said with a chuckle.

I looked down at my hands and fidgeted in my seat.

Wendy looked at me with a shocked expression, "You don't know what a circus is do you?" she asked. I shook my head, I explained to them how I had grown up in a prison (that's what I thought of it as) all my life and all I got to learn was what my father wanted me to know. Anything he thought as unnecessary, like the circus, was removed from the mansion and the staff were forbidden to talk about the outside world. I told them about how my father ignored me and never let me have any freedom, "My father hadn't always been that way, he was a kind and loving father up until my late mother's death" I say "I least that's what I remember, my past has always been a bit blurry"

The whole time I spoke I looked down at my hands so I couldn't see their faces. When I did look up however I was met with two teary eyed faces.

All at once Wendy and Happy jumped at me, Wendy rapping her arms around my waist and Happy diving into my chest. I winced slightly at the impact but laughed all the same, I looked down at the blue cat and girl that were crying against my front, I reached down and wiped away Wendy and Happy's tears. I smiled down at them, "There that's better you guys look much cuter without tears" I said trying to cheer them up. Unfortunately that just started the waterworks all over again, "You're so kind Lucy-san!" Wendy cried into my side while Happy just nodded against my chest.

I let out a tired sigh I had only woken up a few minutes ago and I already managed to get my two new friends to burst into tears . . . great.

After finally getting the two of them to stop crying I managed to get them to tell me more about what this "Runaway Circus" was.

"Well the Runaway Circus is a show that our caravan puts on to make money to support ourselves" Wendy explained, "each of us plays a part whether it's performing, making food, or just doing what we can around the circus".

"Aye Charle, Lily, and I do a flying act" Happy put in with a smug look. Wendy nodded in agreement, "and when I'm older I can be in the circus if I want but since I'm too young I just act as the group medic" says Wendy.

"Who's Charle and Lily?" I asked the two of them before they moved on.

"Charle is my exceed, Pantherlily or Lily for short is Gajeel's exceed and Happy here is Natsu-nii's exceed" Wendy said, Happy puffed up his little chest at the sound of his name. "So there's more talking flying cats?" I wondered out loud, Wendy nodded. She opened her mouth to speak but the sudden jolting stop of the cart silenced her.

"We're here" said the rough voice from earlier, the flap opened up to reveal a black haired man with lots of piercings on his face sitting at the front of their cart just behind the horse. "You guys ok with bunny-girl?" he asked Wendy and Happy who both nodded. _Bunny-girl? _I thought angrily _what kind of person calls a lady bunny-girl?_ "Well then I'm gonna go help shrimp unload, that chick's too small for her own good" he said before closing the flap and leaving to go help this "shrimp" _well apparently he's that kind of person _I thought in a bitter tone, answering my earlier thought.

Wendy turned to me with a giddy look on her face, she seemed to be unable to contain her excitement over something. "Ne Lucy-san are you ready to meet the rest of the crew?" she asked me, she was practically jumping out of her seat. I shrugged my shoulders before nodding and breaking out into a smile, what can I say Wendy's happiness was contagious.

Wendy helped me spin around on my makeshift mat so that I could face the back of the cart. Happy summoned his wings and flew up to the corner of the fabric that held the back flap closed.

With a nod from Wendy Happy pulled open the large flap that opened up the entire back of the cart. The sunlight that flooded in blinded me, I held up a hand to block out the light so that I could see better. I blinked a few times to refocus my eyes and the sight that was in front of me was unlike anything I could have ever imagined.

"Welcome to Fairy Tail"

Author's Notes

Cliff hanger! Well guys hope you all liked chapter 3 of Runaway Circus, the story is pretty much done with all the boring trivial stuff and is now on to the good stuff! The next chapter won't be out as quickly as these last few were, so sorry about that.

Anyways please Review, Follow, and Favorite. Everything helps me get inspired!

-TheSilverKey13


	4. Chapter 4: Meeting Natsu

Lucy's P.O.V

People of every shape and colour were running back and forth carrying things like tent poles or boxes.

I had never stepped foot outside of the manor before so seeing all these strange and fun looking people just blew my mind.

Happy snickered above me, "Lucy you have a weird look on your face again"

"Shut up you stupid cat and how am I the weird one? You're a talking and flying cat!" I shot back.

"Aye and you're Lucy so that makes you weird" he stated flying back down and settling in lap, I face palmed at his nonsensical logic and shook my head.

Suddenly a massive shadow loomed over the cart as a person who must have been at least 20 feet tall blocked out the sun. I sat there paralyzed as the massive figure bent down and peered down at us with its large eyes.

I felt myself start to get light headed, I sat there helplessly as the large person's hand wrapped around me.

I blacked out . . .

"Oi Wendy are you sure she's alright? She looks kind of pale" said a husky deep voice, pulling me out of the darkness that flooded my mind. I felt too tired to move so I just laid there and listened.

"She's fine Natsu-nii she just fainted from shock" I heard Wendy explain from somewhere close by.

"If you say so squirt, hey do you think she's a mage?" said the male voice from earlier.

"Aye! Then she could be in the show" came Happy's higher pitched voice.

"She doesn't appear to have any magic but there is something there, as to what is I still don't know" Wendy said in a surprisingly professional tone.

I felt a slightly rough but warm hand press against my forehead, "Is she always this cold?" asked the guy, his voice sounding much closer than before. "She lost a lot of blood Natsu-nii, it's only natural for her to have a lower temperature after all that" says Wendy.

The warmth coming from the hand that was on my forehead gave off a welcoming heat, I unconsciously turned my head closer to the source.

"Hey Wendy she just moved!" cried the strange guy. "I think she's waking up"

I heard the shuffling of Wendy's little feet as she rushed over to my side. "Lucy-san are you awake" she asked.

Slowly I opened my eyes, the light in the room blinded me slightly but I opened my eyes none the less.

The first thing I saw was Happy who sitting next to my head, his eyes started to water. "LUCY!" he cried jumping on me and wrapping his arms around my chest.

"H-Hi Happy" I coughed out, the sudden impact of a blue cat knocked the wind out of me.

I looked around at my surroundings.

We seemed to be in some form of dark green tent that had medical supplies and a few beds. I looked over to my left and saw Wendy sitting on wooden chair next to me, smiling.

"Glad to see you're finally awake Lucy-san" she said with a grin.

I smiled back at her and pushed myself into a sitting position, a thought occurred to me and I frowned.

"What happened?" I asked the young healer.

Wendy giggled, "You fainted when Master tried to pick you up to show you around" she explained with a smile, she obviously didn't see the strangeness of what she was saying.

"You're telling me that huge mountain of a person is your Master?" I asked in shock, "Wait what's a Master anyway?"

Wendy giggled again, "You really don't know anything do you Lucy-san? Well Master is the leader and ring 'master' of the group hence the name Master, and yes that big person you met today was him"

"You've got to be kidding me" I dead panned.

Wendy shook her head, "Nope that's him although that's not his real size" she said pulling Happy off of me, "He's actually about the size of Happy" she said pointing at the cat in question.

Happy nodded in agreement before squirming his way out of Wendy's grasp and worming his way back onto my lap. I smiled at his action lifting my hand and scratching behind his ear, causing him the purr happily and nuzzle into my hand.

"Well Happy certainly seems to like you" Said the deep voice from earlier.

I looked up in shock at the tall figure that stood off to the side on my right. Most of his body was covered by shadows but despite the darkness his piercing onyx eyes bore down on me.

He was dressed in light brown pants that were held up by a yellow sash, on his top was an open dark brown vest with black trimmings and a white scale like scarf was wrapped around his neck.

"Lucy-san this is my brother Natsu Dragneel, Natsu-nii this is Lucy" Wendy said.

I waved a hand weakly at him in greeting, "Um hi?"

Natsu leaned forward in his chair, bringing the rest of his face out of the shadows, and flashed me the biggest grin I had ever seen. Instead of having flat teeth like a normal person he seemed to, like Wendy, have pointed teeth almost like fangs.

"Hiya Luigi" He said with a grin.

My face turned sour, "It's Lucy" I hissed at him.

Natsu let out a whole hearted laugh that made me want to start laughing too.

"You're funny Luci"

"It's LUCY"

"Whatever, hey Wendy does Luigi here know her way around yet-"a pillow to the face, that I threw, cut off the rest of his sentence.

I glared half-heartedly at him, he grinned again and stuck his tongue out at me like a child.

Wendy giggled at our exchange, "Not yet Natsu-nii, I was hoping to have Master show her around but seeing as how that went…" she trailed off.

"We'll take her!" Happy and Natsu volunteered in unison, smiles etched on their faces.

Wendy frowned slightly looking unsure of their offer, "I don't know Natsu-nii you'd have to be careful since Lucy-san is still recovering-"

"Got it Wendy, come on Luce let go!" he said cutting off his little sister and grabbing me, quite roughly, by the arm and dragged me towards the tent opening.

"Be careful Natsu" Wendy warned as he began to open the door.

Natsu paused a moment and smiled back at her and myself.

"No worries Wendy, I got this" he said before he and Happy grabbed either side of the opening and pulled it open, pushing me out into the unknown.

Author's Notes

_So which do you guys prefer? First person POV or Third person POV? I wanna know!_

_Sorry for the slight cliff hanger, the next chapter will be out soon I promise!_

_Anyways please review/favorite/follow, and if you've got any questions please feel free to ask!_

_Thanks again! –The SilverKey13_


	5. Chapter 5: Trapped

Natsu grabbed me by the wrist and dragged me out into the bright sun light outside. The bright whiteness of the sun blinded me temporarily, causing me to see dark patches in my vision.

I raised a hand up to block out the sun and squinted at my surroundings.

The field that had once been filled with people (before I blacked out) was now filled with the smaller tents (that I now knew were called residential tents) I had seen before, minus the largest tent that had been in the center of the them.

"Hey Natsu where exactly are we?" I asked.

No response

I looked over to my right and found that my so called 'guide' was nowhere to be seen…. Just perfect.

"Some guide he is" I muttered bitterly, I turned around to walk back to Wendy's tent only to find that the it was gone.

I felt my eyebrow twitch in annoyance, not only had that idiot left me all alone but he just _had _to drag me away from the only place I knew.

_Why does this stuff keep happening to me?! _I screamed in my head.

I kicked a rock in frustration…..or at least what I thought was a rock.

When I kicked the 'rock' it released a rope end that was being held underneath it. The rope shot back towards the tent it was attached too. The entire structure began to shake and started leaning towards me.

I could only watch in fear as the ropes on the other side of the tent let go, the last restraints on it releasing.

The tent loomed over me like a dark shadow, before completely letting go and crashing to the ground….. with me underneath it.

"KKYYAAAAA!" I cried just before the it fell on top of me.

It's a strange feeling really, standing up one minute then having a tent flatten you to the ground the next.

Luckily for me the tent poles were thin and light so they didn't crush me. The fabric allowed air to pass through so I didn't have to worry about suffocating, although on the other hand it held me down, making me unable to move no matter how much I fought back.

"Get off me you stupid over-sized bed sheet" I cursed the material.

I tried to pull myself out from under it only to have multiple tent poles shift and (painfully) trap my leg. I tried pulling my leg out to no avail.

Great now not only am I stuck under a fallen tent and in the dark but now my leg was pinned in a painful way… just great.

I let out a sigh, "well it looks like I'm not going anywhere any time soon" I muttered under my breath.

Why does kind of stuff keep happening to me?!

_**Author's Notes**_

_**Sorry for the short chapter but I'll update the rest of it soon!**_

_**GOMEN!**_


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